Lagos FOU seizes cannabis, other contrabands worth N1.5 billion in three weeks

Cannabis worth over N74m was among the N1.5 billion contrabands seized by the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) zone A of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) within three weeks.

The cannabis was contained in 58 bags and 570 parcels said to come from Togo and Ghana, arrested with a suspect. The Controller in charge of the unit, Mohammed Uba told journalists in Lagos, Wednesday. “The driver of the truck carrying the drugs was arrested and he has been granted administrative bail,” Uba said.

The banned drugs have since been handed over to the National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) operatives for further action.

“These are substances that are not good for all of us. Anybody that takes such is reported to be aggressive. On behalf of the Customs Service, I now handover this substance for confiscation and prosecution of offenders,” Uba revealed.

Receiving the drugs on behalf of NDLEA, Lawal Opeloyeru, Principal Officer in charge of operation and intelligence, Lagos Command of NDLEA, extolled the customs command and expressed the readiness of the anti-drug outfit to partner with customs.

“We have contacted our colleagues in Ghana to put a stop to such menace though it has not yielded any positive result but hopefully, it will be achieved because we are also using Interpol to eradicate such problem.

“Immediately we get court injunction, the drugs will be destroyed publicly here in Lagos,” Opeloyeru revealed.
He however, lamented the inability of Customs to arrest those connected with the drug, saying that such development makes investigation very difficult.
‘It is very unfortunate that no arrest was made which will make investigation a hard nut to crack”, the NDLEA chief observed.
He however, stated that, to forestall this type of development, the anti-drug agency will henceforth commence a joint motorised patrol with customs to enable them make arrests which would aid investigation.
Opeloyeru also declared, that, the Lagos office of the agency achieved 39 prosecutions in the last three months.

Meanwhile, the Lagos FOU , within the three weeks under review, made 86 seizures comprising 10 trailerload of 50 kilogrammes of foreign parboiled rice numbering 6003 bags with Duty Paid Value (DPV) N74,038,300.7.

Other seized items included 13 units of used detained vehicles, 64 units of different types of used vehicles of different types, bales of second hand clothing, frozen poultry products and vegetable oil forfeited to the federal government.

The total sum of the seized items was put at N1, 461,006,823.8 and ten suspects have been arrested in connection to the 86 items seized.
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The various goods, including exotic cars were intercepted between March 19 and April 9.

Comptroller of the Unit, Mr Mohammed Uba said the various intercepted goods had a duty paid value of N1.4billion while the sum of N166.2million was realized from payment of demand notices (DN) on general goods from seaports, airport and border stations.

Uba said this was due to wrong classification, transfer of value, and short payment in duty payment meant for the coffer of Federal Government of Nigeria.

Other seized items, he said, included Indian hemp, 64 exotic vehicles, 6003 bags of foreign parboiled rice (equivalent to 10 trailers), 963 cartons of frozen poultry products, 431 jerry cans of vegetable oil, 163 bales of used clothing, 569 pieces of used tyres, 69 bags of sugar, four containers, among others.
The Indian hemp seized along Olorunda axis of Ogun state was in 570 parcels and 98 sacks of (Cannabis Sativa) weighing 1,550kg.

He also disclosed that the 2,671 bags of 50kg rice seized from smugglers were hidden in 9 hired trucks from 9 makeshift storage houses in Ilogbo, Abeokuta.

On the Indian hemp, he said the drugs were intercepted based on credible intelligence and resistance, adding that there was mob attack against customs operatives.

The Unit also detained 13 more vehicles including 1 Toyota Land cruiser (2018), 1 Escalades Cardilac (2017), 1 Range Rover (2014), 3 Toyota Camry (2009,2010 and 2017 models), 1 Toyota Rav 4, 1 Toyota Highlander (2014), 1 Honda CRV, 1 Honda Accord, 1 BMW Salon, 1 Toyota Sienna, 1 Hyundai, among others.

“The vehicles are still under detention pending the grace period allowed for the owners to bring relevant customs document. The interception was done while on information patrol at various locations within our areas of jurisdiction. These 13 detained exotic Vehicles alone have a duty paid value of N258,137,766.98) only”, he said.

Uba equally told newsmen that importers of 64 exotic cars who failed to come along with documents to prove that they paid duties on the cars have forfeited them to the federal government.

He said, “It will interest you to know that among the detained vehicles in our previous briefing, 64 of them have been converted to seizure after all necessary legal procedures were followed within the week under review, awaiting Court condemnation”.

The Unit also seized four containers 3x40ft and 1x20ft for different Customs breaches in the importation process.

Uba explained, “The 1x20ft container no: CSNU 106087/4 carried 2,260 cartoons of Gonca Spaghetti made in turkey and 530 package of Rifle Energy drinks made in Europe as against baking powder declared in the SGD. Further investigation revealed that the container was never exited, we are still investigating and all those found culpable will face the full wrath of the law. While 1x40ft container no: PCIU 865957/1was seized for carrying 200 cartons of ladies shoes, 134 cartons of children among other items as against keyboard and mouse declared in the SGD, 1x40ft container no:FCIU 80992/0 was seized for carrying 2300 cartons of tiffany chocolate,385 cartons of tiffany crunch n cream biscuit as against “Tappet for fuel pump complete”. These are clear cases of false declarations, liable to seizure and forfeiture”.

The Controller sent a note of warning to all smugglers/intending ones and their accomplices to desist from such trade malpractices and invest their money in legitimate businesses.

He said that those who failed to change would continue to count their losses and risk going to jail.
He disclosed that 10 suspects were arrested in connection with the 86 seizures.